Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 3.djvu/787

 fSO FEDERAL REPORTER. �of railroads is the legal right of everybody. The principle is fpunded in justice and necessity, and has been uniformly recognized and enforced by the courts. A contrary idea would concede to railroad -oompanies a dangerous discretion, and inevitably lead to intolerable abuses. It would, to a lim- ited extent, make them masters instead of the servants of the public. By an unjust exercise of such a power they could destroy the business of one man and build up that of another, puniah an enemy and reward a friend, depress the interests of one community for the beneflt of its rival, and so manipu- late their roads as to compel concessions and secure inci- dental profits to which they have no legal or moral right what- ever. �The case in hand is but a sample of what might be done by these corporations if the power claimed in this case is possessed by them. Complainants' stock yard was purchased and fitted up at a heavy outlay of money. It was, at the time, a uecessiiy to defendant's business. By the express agree- menf or. tacit understanding of the parties suitable connec- tions fpr receiving and delivering stock were made, of which the defendant availed itself for 12 years. But, after thus ' ftccepting the beneflts of complainants' expenditures, the de- fendant proposes to sever its' connections, withhold further accommodations, decline to reçoive from or deliver stock at complainants' yard, conoentrate its patronage on the Union Stock Yard Company, require ail consignors to way-bill their stock to the care of said favored company, and, by this in- vidious discrimination, compel complainants to carry on their trade through a rival yard, or else abandon their established and lucrative business. The execution of defendant's threat would destroy complainants' business, depreciate their prop- erty, and deprive the public of the protection against exor- bitant charges which legitimate competition, conducted on equal terms, always insures. Complainants' yard is on de- fendant's road; it furnishes every needed facility; was pur- chased and improved in the belief that they would receive the same measure of accommodation extended to others sustain- ing the same relation to defendant; defendant can receive ����